Pulldown
Machine lat pulldown
Works
Also works
Equipment
How to do it
- Adjust the machine's seat and thigh pad to your height.
- Grip the handles with a pronated grip and sit with your chest tall.
- Pull your shoulder blades down before starting the movement.
- Pull the handles down by driving your elbows toward your ribs.
- Return under control until your arms fully extend.
- Avoid using momentum and keep your torso supported.
Common mistakes
- Swinging the torso to move the load
- Shrugging the shoulders while pulling
- Doing half reps without extending at the top
What the evidence says
A wide grip does not activate the lats more. Testing grips at 1, 1.5 and 2 times biacromial width, latissimus dorsi activation was similar across all three, and the wide grip moved less weight at 6RM than the narrow or medium grips.
Andersen V, Fimland MS, Wiik E, Skoglund A, Saeterbakken AH. «Effects of grip width on muscle strength and activation in the lat pull-down». Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 2014;28(4):1135-1142. View the study
The same goes for hand orientation: in 40 trained subjects performing seven pulldown variations at 70% of 1RM, there were no differences in lat activation between pronated, supinated, neutral, wide or narrow grips. Pick the one you find most comfortable and controllable.
Buonsenso A, Di Fonza D, Di Claudio G, et al. «Electromyographic Analysis of Back Muscle Activation During Lat Pulldown Exercise: Effects of Grip Variations and Forearm Orientation». Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology, 2025;10(3):345. View the study
Pulling the bar behind your neck buys you nothing: compared with the front pulldown and the V-bar version, latissimus dorsi activation was the same across all three techniques, and the authors recommend the front pulldown and advise avoiding the behind-the-neck version.
Sperandei S, Barros MAP, Silveira-Júnior PCS, Oliveira CG. «Electromyographic analysis of three different types of lat pull-down». Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 2009;23(7):2033-2038. View the study
What isn't settled: No study shows that a wide grip makes your back wider: the idea has never been measured, and what has been measured (activation and strength) doesn't support it. There's also no hypertrophy trial comparing pulldowns with pull-ups, so choosing between them comes down to controllable load and reps, not data.
Other variations
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